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Yesterday we learned that investors in American stocks lost more than $400 billion over the past week, since Speaker Boehner said he could not compromise with President Obama. Republicans have not moved a single centimeter towards compromise with our side of the aisle--not a single centimeter. But the people aren't looking to us for what we can stop. They're looking to us for what we can do--what we can do to make our country healed at this point in time.

...it's not a fair observation to say the Democrats have not put something on table that, in fact, is a very, very substantial step towards the republicans to try to solve this crisis. But the Republicans have said no they can not say yes to their own proposal. The 2.2 trillion, dollar for dollar increase in the debt, increase in spending...

...Americans are understandably outraged at the politically-caused impasse that confronts us. The consequences of which for every American and our country have been correctly characterized as catastrophic. For more than two centuries an American default has been unthinkable. The men and women who came before us in this chamber built up the full faith and credit of the United States until it became the bedrock of the world's economy. Despite their differences they agreed that the honor that comes from paying our bills responsibly and on time was a moral obligation...

What we're seeing, Lawrence, in my opinion, is a very sorry and irresponsible spectacle of holding America’s credit worthiness, and very frankly the interest of every American, hostage to an increase in the debt limit, which simply says America’s going to pay its bills. What has been offered by Speaker Boehner is a formula that he has rejected, and Mr. cantor have both rejected, saying that if we did just incremental, every six months or every eight months, it would keep the economy roiled and it wouldn't grow.

...but as we engage in that debate and discussion, we must remember that there are in our country one child out of every five who is living in poverty. Who is worried about proper food, proper housing, proper medical care. Children who are in fact at risk. We now in America the richest nation on the face of the earth have the largest number of people living in poverty that we have had in over seven decades...